Previous Page	Town of Konitz
Roads & Railways Churches Schools History	August Julius Knitter was born in Niesewanz, a village west of the Town of Konitz that can be seen to the left of Konitz on the 1914 map below. Konitz was located in the District of Konitz (referred to in German as Kreise Konitz). On the map the district border is drawn in red, and Neisewanz can be seen located just outside of the border. At that time, Kreise Konitz was located in the Marienwerder administrative region of the province of West Prussia. The name Konitz was derived from the Choina-pine trees growing in the Large Tuchola Forest (Tuchler Heide in German) that includes low hills and 900 glacial lakes. Map of the Konitz Area Far back in history the town belonged to Pomeranian princes. Prince Sambor the First founded a church in 1205. In 1310, the town was under the rule of the Teutonic Knights. During the Teutonic Knights rule the town was fortified: surrounded by the two rings of moats, strong walls and mounds of earth. The town was called the key, or gate, of Pomerania. Poland got it back under the terms of the Treaty of Thorn (Toruń in Polish) in 1466. After 1772, the town was under the rule of Prussia. Since the Teutonic Knights era, the population of Konitz consisted mainly of Germanic nationals. The colonization process of the Konitz population was hindered by plagues. During the period between 1352 and 1711 there were eleven outbreaks of plagues in the town. In 1657, from the Whitsunday feast (seventh Sunday after Easter) to Advent (fourth Sunday before Christmas), 3000 out of 3500 people died in the town. In such cases German colonists replaced them. In 1870, there were 2450 Catholics in Konitz and3500 Protestants. Since the earliest times Konitz has been known for fabric manufacture. In 1348 Jan von Barkenfeld, Komtur (commander) of Schlochau (Człuchów in Polish), granted separate privileges to the local fabric manufacturers. On the above map, Schlochau is west of Konitz. The Konitz gate leading to Schlochau is in a photo below. Today the town is in Poland and is spelled Chojnice. Chojnice is surrounded by its old fortifications, and has two Evangelical and two Roman Catholic churches, a new town hall, handsome public offices, and a prison. It has iron foundries, sawmills, electrical works, and manufacturers of bricks. It has the church, now made of brick, which was built in 1205.
	Schlochau gate	Historical town hall located on Market Square
	Today Niesewanz (spelled Nieżywięć in Polish) has a population of 391.